Rapid switch to clean energy would create over 15 million new jobs in India: Report

Ending dependency on fossil fuels and switching to clean energy would create over 15 million new jobs in India by 2025 and nearly two million jobs in G7 countries, said a new report on Wednesday.

The latest report, 'Cutting Bills and Creating Jobs: the economic opportunities of a clean energy transition', published by the We Mean Business Coalition and Cambridge Econometrics, finds that across the G7 nations, policies designed to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels to net-zero will also create 1.92 million new jobs across the G7 by 2025 as opposed to business as usual.

The report, released just days ahead of the G7 leaders' summit in Berlin, called for phase out of domestic coal-fired power generation by 2030, saying that doing so will save families across G7 countries USD 480 per capita on their total annual energy bills (electricity, natural gas and petrol combined) by the same year.

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The Group of Seven or the G7 countries comprise Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"The analysis also looked beyond the G7, finding that India would see the creation of over 15 million new jobs by 2025 by switching to cleaner energy," the report said.

Earlier this year, India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) had said that the country has achieved its non-fossil fuel-based energy target, something that was to be completed by 2030.

According to the report, shifting to cleaner energy would create 9,00,000 new jobs in the US by 2025 along with a decline in annual energy bills by 25%, or $529, by 2030.

According to the report, in the European Union, household energy bills would be 28% or €409 ($430) lower in 2030 and by 2035 consumers would spend roughly half as much on their energy costs, saving almost €713 ($750) per year, compared to business as usual.

"As many of the world’s major economies experience record increases in gas and electricity bills, inflation, a cost-of-living crisis and more economic shocks expected, the report’s findings offer a clear path for governments to act.

"Setting ambitious climate policies to deliver clean energy will reduce household bills and create more jobs and growth, the report said.

Earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had said that clean energy is one key solution to deploy as fast as possible if the world is to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degree C.

"If governments act now to adopt policies like phasing out coal, increasing energy efficiency and scaling up renewable energy, they will generate savings for households, new jobs and growth," the report said.

Maria Mendiluce, CEO, We Mean Business Coalition said that with heatwaves hitting communities across the world, the climate emergency is more evident than ever.

"People want to see solutions now. This report highlights for the G7 leaders that an accelerated transition to clean energy is achievable.

It can help solve the climate crisis while driving down household costs and bringing more jobs and growth: a huge bonus to businesses and the people they serve and employ.

"To protect the world’s citizens from climate and economic disaster, we urge G7 leaders to implement the policies outlined in this report now," she said.

To accelerate the transition to clean energy, the report called on G7 leaders to commit to achieving fully decarbonized power systems in the G7 by 2035; phase out domestic coal-fired power generation by 2030 and rapidly scale up renewable energy deployment towards achieving 70% of power generation by 2030.

It also asked the G7 nations to commit to 100% sales of zero emissions (ZEVs) by 2035 for new light duty vehicles and increase public spending for energy efficiency, apart from setting out national action plans in 2022 to eliminate all fossil fuel subsidies by 2025.

It also suggested putting a meaningful price on carbon starting in 2022.